This Week In Pizza: Cantina Mercatto

 

 

Ah, the humble mushroom pizza. Simple, yet refined and elegant. 

Mercatto is a small chain of restaurants here in Toronto that offer elevated Italian fare, ranging from your appetizer staples like arancini and prosciutto/cheese plates, to mains like pasta and, of course, pizza. 

This was not my first experience with the Mercatto chain: back in 2019 during the First Great Pizza Quest, I stopped by the now departed one (Mercatto Locale) on Bay Street. They made a positive impression (ranking 38th on my 2022 list) but what stood out most of all was the Happy Hour Negroni that they poured from a tap. I'd never even really liked Negronis up to that point (now I think they're delicious) and this particular one just hit the spot in that particular moment. 

Mercatto Locale may no longer exist (likely a casualty of the pandemic times) but a reunion with some awesome folks I haven't seen in quite some time found me at sister restaurant Cantina Mercatto, located near Wellington and Yonge (right across the street from a place I used to work!). 

We were a large-ish table (about eight of us) and started the evening with a round of cocktails. Remembering my previous Mercatto experience, I had to try their white peach Negroni: gin, peach schnapps, white vermouth, with a mint leaf and raspberry as garnish. Pretty tasty, in a dangerous (I could drink several of these they're so smooth) way.

Believe it or not I wasn't certain I would actually get a pizza (been there done that), but none of their pasta dishes appealed to me this particular day so... once again living up to my reputation was the play. As said in the intro, this is their mushroom pie: cremini mushrooms, a besciamella sauce base (bechamel, yes I had to look it up), shavings of grana padano, fontina as the primary cheese, and some thyme because there's always time for thyme (it is on my side, yes it is). 

Really, there isn't a whole lot I can truly dive into here. Is it a good pizza? Certainly. Among Toronto's very best? Nope. Quite a few storeys below that CN Tower-like benchmark. 

The next question, naturally, is what puts Mercatto in this middle ground of goodness. For me, the flavour is excellent but repetitive. This would be a fantastic pizza to share with a couple friends, each of you eating a single slice. Taking it on solo... around the halfway point you've become too accustomed to the pleasant taste and there isn't a lingering 'X' factor to jazz up any random bite. 

It's consistently mushrooms and rich melted cheese, which is delicious indeed but boring after two whole slices of it, and there isn't anything else really happening. Dollops of blue cheese (like Libretto does with their mushroom pie), or roasted garlic... as I often say with pizzas in this particular grade range: you're in the front lawn of the elite, but just missing a couple key elements to get up to the front door. 

Mercatto did offer a little side of their chili oil, which did help spice up the pie a little. The crust was also pretty ordinary for a wood-fired offering: semi-dry and extremely dusty, although with good char and crunch in spots. 

For as limited as it is (two dimensional thinking), this is still a quality pizza. Cremini mushrooms are always a winner via their natural juiciness, the softer fontina cheese subs in for the mozzarella expertly (and is plentiful), the sharpness of shaved grana padano just makes too much sense with earthy mushrooms and a well melted cheese, and the richness of the besciamella isn't distinctive on its own but definitely bleeds into the overall creamy richness of this pie. 

This all really works well, and another positive is how terrific it still was on the reheat test... not losing much or any of the precious moisture (definitely a pan on low heat for this type of pizza). 

 

---

 

Cantina Mercatto and the Mercattos in general are a quality Italian restaurant brand. Casual fine dining, to use a common term. The type of place fancy enough to have a considerable wine list, the servers wear dress shirts and replace your cutlery after the first course... but also not so snobby that you can show up in a Beck T-shirt and not feel like they're looking at you as a hobo. It appeals to both the Bay Street suit business lunch and an artsy group of friends out for something sleek. And the food is reliably good.

'Reliably good' is a positive thing, but here in my realm (the Pizza Realm) it's not gonna get you close to the top. The elevated price (this pie was 25) throws off the balance somewhat as well (there are better spots of equal sleekness where a pie like this would be 19-22). As such... I can't really recommend it unless like me you just happen to be going there for a social occasion. The quality is there without question, but there isn't enough else going on conceptually. A great first taste pizza, with diminishing returns.

Still, objectively this is probably a high 'B' from me... and adding in some other factors (the overall experience, the tasty white Negroni) I'll throw it into the low 'B+' range, probably placing it on the fringes of the Top 50 in Toronto, which might be generous. Good pizza! But there are so many better ones that is is hardly a 'gotta try it'. Go with a group and have a fun time being with cool people.